Getting the patient to come to terms with his delusions as just that and not the gifts of protean insight, revelations from God, etc. is a real battle. Most never get to that stage and remain ill from the rest of their lives.

I feel a thousand times worse for his victims than I do for him, but if he really is as ill as his doctors are saying, what hell is it to be locked inside his head? I can't even imagine how horrible it would be to be told you are that ill and then to be able to do nothing about it.

He's not evil? Or is a homicidal insanity one of the forms of evil, even though our justice system might not hold him criminally responsible?

I gather the issue now is whether he can stand trial at all, whether he has the capacity to understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense.

Could he be faking it? Can the doctors be fooled? (Well, almost certainly in the abstract, but can Loughner fool them?)

Until fairly recently he would have been put to death rather quickly. Lincoln was shot on April 14 and Booth's convicted conspirators were executed on July 7. Justice is far more deliberate nowadays. That may make us feel more comfortable about our society, but I doubt that it makes much difference for Mr. Loughner.

I've told you beliefs were at the heart of most of our problems. This guy may be Exhibit "A," but he's no different from everyone else in that respect, so I wouldn't bother trying to look down on him. He doesn't think Jesus walked on water. As far as I know, he didn't vote for Obama. He's not reported to have ever bought anything from Whole Foods, gone "green" (and thought public "nudging" in that direction is a good, or makes you good if you submit) or regarded women as "goddesses." He's not engaged in a scam, or fraud, doesn't think he can keep getting "married" over and over again, or tried to scare the world through global warming hysteria. He's just got other nonsensical "beliefs," but many of the things I just listed also resulted in someone's death, so there's no difference to me:

Having been brought up by a bi-polar paranoid schizophrenic (Of course, that was in the 60's/70's ~ we didn't have a name for it then. Just thought we'd lost the toss.), entirely plausible and entirely horrific.

God bless his victims and, quite honestly, God damn the dewy eyed do-gooders who turned these lunatics loose on society, where their rights to be crazy trump ours to live lives free of torture and fear.

"God bless his victims and, quite honestly, God damn the dewy eyed do-gooders who turned these lunatics loose on society, where their rights to be crazy trump ours to live lives free of torture and fear."

Yes. Double yes. Triple yes.

"Aborting those with a "killer gene" would be ironic."

It would be ironic. And evil. I am not advocating aborting anyone. Psychiatric care? Yes.

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